The day I wrote the last entry to this blog, I spent the rest of (bad English!), walking around Rosario as I'd decided not to waste the day. I visited the house where Che Guevarra was born, which turned out just to be like any other house, then a big painting of his face, which was quite cool, and then walked along the river front for a while.

The next morning, I had a brief period when I couldn't decide whether or not to leave Rosario that day, and ended up staying, and so I decided I had to do something with my day. I decided to do yet more walking around town, and sort out a few bits and pieces that I needed to get done. I found a hardwareshop where I got a security chain for my bag, and then went to a tourist office to find out about buses to Cordoba. It turned out that there are big problems in Argentina - something to do with farmers not being happy at the money they are getting for their meat, and so they are on strike and blocking roads which has resulted in empty butchers all over the country. At the tourist office today i was told all of this and instructed to get a train there which leaves at 3am and takes 9 hours (3 hours more than the bus). The train was much cheaper, but i thought it would be less comfortable and also I'd already paid for tonight at the hostel I was in so I didn't really want to spend the night on an uncomfortable train. We (I went to Cordoba with the men from Leeds) have phoned the bus station and they said buses to C were running normally but they obviously cannot predict what the roads will be like. Scare over.

The next morning wegot up early and managed to get an 11am bus to Cordoba. There were a lot of farmers on the sides of the roads burning fires and almost just letting everyone know they were there and not working but weren't causing any roadblocks on our route. We got to Cordoba fine. However, Cordobas not the most picturesue place, so when we got there, a thought immediatly hit me that I needed to get out of the city, so I started researching it straight away. I stayed the night because the next day was a holiday so there was meant to be a lot of stuff on that evening, but headed off the day after. (The holiday was to commemorate/celebrate the beginning/end of the Faulklands War - therefore not the best time to be an Englishman in Argentina! We were instructed to keep our nationality quiet for the day! I have had a bit of troublefrom some guys here when they have found out I am English - a group of 5 being quite aggressive with me and talking about Maradona's hand of god goal against England!).

Anyway, early on Thursday I got a minibus to a town called Cuesta Blanca which had been recommended to me by a woman at the hostel. It was amazingly beautiful there. A tiny town with 2 cafes and some houses all spread out across the hills and either side of a river. I walked around for hours (with stray dogs in tow!) admiring the surroundings. I later got a bus to Villa Carlos Paz, had a quick walk around, decided I didn't like it and headed to La Cumbre. La Cumbre is a town just about in the middle of nowhere, and with not much to offer, but I had been given a leaflet about a hostel there - this was all I had because it's not in my Lonely Planet guide. I headed to hostel - where I was the only person apart from the old woman who ran it - then walkedaround town for a while. It was a very lonely evening, but at the same time really nice to get awayfrom the madness and pollution of the cities.

The next day, which is today, I got myself up early and checked out. I'd left my main rucksack in Cordoba so I only had to carry around a small one with the bare necessities. I rented a bike for the day for about a fiver, was told somewhere beautiful to go and headed there. It started off badly as on the bikes here, the front and back brakes are the other way around sowhen Istopped suddenly, I nearly went flying over the handlebars, the chain came off and the water bottle flewoff the bike and smashed! Thingsgot better thought! It was a 10km ride, along tiny rocky dirt tracks up and down great hill/mountain (not sure if they'd qualify as mountains!) sides. It was quite taxing but very fulfilling as when I got to my destination, it was at the top of a mountain/hill and there were loads ofpeople running off the edge to paraglide. Istood and watched for a while, and wasoffered a go but declined as it was too expensive - I'm saving up for a proper extreme sport! I got chatting to an Argentine couple, who very kindly gave me their water, and then cycled back to the town. I rode round for a while longer and then dropped the bike off. I picked up some water and headed back to Cordoba which brings me to where I am now. I feel more has happened in the last week, but again I have left it too long and so I think I've left out a fair bit.

Robbie and Omar are still here and are getting a bus to Iguazu on Sunday night so I might get that with them but get off in Posadas and wait a bit longer to meet Gussy and Jenny at the falls. Other than that I don't have many plans. Except sorting myself out some food now because I'm starving after my first very active day of the trip - I'm disappointed in myself that its taken so long. I'll be in Iguazu or possibly Paraguay next time I write.